


we're not bruised (they're just party tattoos)

by sylviewashere



Series: bemily week [4]
Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bemily Week, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 08:36:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13971342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sylviewashere/pseuds/sylviewashere
Summary: soulmate au for bemily week





	we're not bruised (they're just party tattoos)

**Author's Note:**

> i'm really happy with this, it's my favorite i've done this week. enjoy!

Beca rolled over, hitting snooze on her blaring alarm. Her legs bumped together and a throbbing pain suddenly hit.  _ Fuck, again?  _

She kicked off her comforter, sitting up and inspecting her legs. Just as she had suspected, there was a fresh bruise forming below her left knee. She grabbed her phone and scrolled through her notifications before texting Chloe. 

**beca:** another one

**chloe:** What’s that supposed to mean, DJ Khaled??

**beca:** another bruise 

**chloe:** that’s like the third one this week 

**chloe:** your soulmate is hella clumsy 

**beca:** lucky me

Beca tossed her phone on her bed and got up to go shower, stopping to check if the bruises from earlier this week had started to fade yet (they hadn’t). 

Beca tried not to think about it too much. This whole soulmate thing. Beca never thought about it much until Chloe popped into her life and became her best friend. According to Chloe, who was a self-proclaimed expert on the matter (okay, so she had actually taken an entire course on the History Of Soulmates, whatever), the premise had been around for centuries, as far back as history was recorded. 

Basically what Beca gathered over the years (and from Chloe), was that when two people were soulmates, things that happened on one soulmate’s skin would transfer to the other. Any cuts or other major injuries never seemed to appear beyond a faint mark, but bruises would. That’s why so many people find random bruises on their body with no recollection of how they formed. 

Ink was something else that transferred over, both from pens and tattoos. This actually made getting a tattoo super difficult, as both soulmates usually had to agree on it. Beca may have bribed a tattoo artist on multiple occasions so she could get hers done (it’s not like they were bad, just some floral stuff and music related ink). 

Most people didn’t think much of it now, it was commonplace. Some people hated it, preaching about creating your own destiny or whatever. And some just ignored it and went on with their lives. Beca was in that last category. Or at least she tried to be. It was harder when your soulmate was apparently a huge klutz and a new bruise appeared almost daily. 

Beca checked her fridge when she got out of the shower, ruffling her wet hair with a towel as she looked for something to eat. She made a mental note to go buy milk later, but knowing herself, she was bound to get to the store and forget what she went for, so she grabbed a pen and scribbled it on the back of her hand. 

* * *

Emily was studying when she felt a familiar warmth tracing over skin. She tried ignoring for a bit, focusing on her textbook. But curiosity got the better of her, so she looked at the back of her hand. All it said was one word:  _ milk. _

She cursed herself for getting distracted. Of course it was just a grocery list. 

Emily thought the whole soulmate thing was weird. But that certainly didn’t stop her from eagerly checking her hand or arm whenever she felt something forming. 

Maybe Emily was so fascinated because her soulmate seemed so interesting. For one thing, to get not just one, but multiple tattoos done without meeting your soulmate first was so rare. But Emily didn’t mind. Her soulmate’s tattoo choices intrigued Emily. A small grasshopper was the first tattoo Emily watched appear on her skin with wide eyes. It was an intense heat, but it wasn’t painful like Emily knew getting an actual tattoo was. She was fourteen when it happened. She had seen scribbles of marker and reminders on her arms before, but this was different. This was a permanent reminder that her soulmate was very much out there. 

Over the next few years, more tattoos formed on Emily’s body. The grasshopper (right arm), cursive script that said “we are the music makers” (left arm), pink lotuses (right shoulder), equalizer bars (lower back), and headphones (left wrist). She claimed she didn’t have a favorite, but she often got lost in her thoughts tracing over the ink of the headphones, staring at the equalizer bars, writing the quote in pretty cursive letters in the margin of her psychology notes. 

Emily knew that soulmates always felt some sort of connection, but many didn’t know anything about their soulmates until they met them. Emily didn’t feel that way. Whoever her soulmate was, she knew they at least shared a huge passion for music. 

Emily always found herself coming up with song lyrics on the fly, and while she had a journal where she kept them all, sometimes she preferred writing lyrics on her arm. Something about the connection it gave between her and her soulmate made her inexplicably happy. 

Absentmindedly running her fingers over the grasshopper, Emily’s mind drifted from her studies. She didn’t know when she’d meet her soulmate - she was in her junior year of college and it still hadn’t happened. She remembered in high school when her best friend found out her boyfriend was her soulmate. Often, people would test and see if someone was their soulmate by writing something on their arm and seeing if it appeared on the other person. _ Of course, that only works if you’re with your soulmate… _

Suddenly, she had an idea. 

Maybe it was crazy. No, it’s dumb. But just maybe it was weird enough to work. 

Emily scrambled through her pencil pouch, searching for the pen she used to write song lyrics on herself when she was bored. She found it and popped the cap off, scribbling on the back of her arm.

* * *

 

Beca sighed into her coffee cup. Work was slow lately, so she found herself just listening to older mixes she had worked on, hoping to find some inspiration for something new while she was in between clients. Suddenly, a flash of heat hit her arm. Chloe would’ve teased her for how quickly she flipped her arm over to look at what was written. 

_ Hi soulmate, I like your tattoos.  _

Beca’s eyebrows furrowed. Usually when Beca had something appear on her, it was what she thought may have been lines or poetry or song lyrics. There was one point where an entire chorus was printed neatly on her forearm, right under her headphones tattoo. She appreciated this much more than the bruises on her legs. 

This was new though. Her soulmate was trying to communicate with her. Should she reply? It’d be rude not to right? And she had to admit, after graduating and still not having met her soulmate, she was pretty curious. 

Beca wrote back quickly.

* * *

 

Emily grinned when words appeared below her own pen marks. 

_ Thanks, I like your bruises. Jk they’re terrible. Take better care of yourself, clumsy.  _

Emily kicked her textbook aside, deciding that taking notes could wait. She scribbled down another response.

* * *

 

“Becs, you home? I brought you dinner,” Chloe’s voice called from the kitchen. 

Beca sat up abruptly, looking at her arms and legs, both covered to the brim in pen. Her and her soulmate (Emily, she learned) had been talking for what must have been hours. Both of them replied to each other within seconds. Beca supposes they could’ve exchanged phone numbers, but she admits that something about feeling that signature warmth was comforting. 

Beca couldn’t let Chloe see her like this, she’d never hear the end of it. “Uh, I’ll be there in a second!”  She rolled her sweatpants back down and searched for a hoodie.  _ Crap, it’s in the kitchen isn’t it. _

She slid into the kitchen and yanked on her Barden University hoodie before Chloe could even turn around and greet her. Her roommate eyed her suspiciously. “Wash your hands before you eat, Beca.” 

Beca rolled her eyes. “Yes, mother.” 

Forgetting herself momentarily, she walked around and turned on the kitchen sink, rolling her sleeves up and began to scrub at her skin. She realized her mistake quickly. But it was too late. Chloe gasped. 

“Beca, what the heck is all that?” Beca must have looked like a deer in the headlights. Chloe grabbed her arms and inspected them, eyes skimming over the words rapidly. “Oh my  _ god.  _ You’re talking to your soulmate, aren’t you?”

“No. Yes. Maybe. Shut up, it’s nothing.” 

“Clearly it is,” Chloe said, rubbing her thumb over the words on Beca’s arms. “Emily, huh? Is she close by? Oh my gosh, are you going to meet up?” 

“Chloe, calm down. Yes, she’s close by. She’s actually a junior at Barden. So I guess we graduated when she - ”

“Beca, set up a date right now.” 

“Now? We just started talking, you’re crazy.” Beca tried to go back to scrubbing her arms clean.

“ _ You’re  _ crazy. You two are soulmates! And clearly you like talking to each other. So bite the bullet, Beca. Ask her out. Or I will.” Chloe emphasized her threat by grabbing a sharpie from the junk drawer.  

“One week. If I don’t do it by one week from now, you can force me down and write on me.” 

Chloe sighed at Beca’s stubbornness. But she wanted Beca to do this her own way, so she agreed. “Fine.”

* * *

 

Emily bounced with anticipation, waiting for Beca to react to what she had just done. They hadn’t talked nearly as much as they did on that first day, but throughout the week, she found herself having little conversations with Beca daily. Even the simple question of  _ how was your day?  _ appearing on her forearm made her feel like there were butterflies in her stomach. 

Emily was both eager and terrified to meet Beca, so she hadn’t gotten the guts to ask her out on a proper date yet. She hoped Beca might make the first move, because like, what if she didn’t even like her like that? After all, they’ve only really just started talking. 

Although Emily supposes they’ve been connected since the very beginning, Emily’s contant playground bruises forming on Beca’s skin when Beca didn’t participate in any sport that could give them to her; and Beca’s notes to herself about different song names and combinations always had Emily adding new music to her playlists. 

Today, she wanted to surprise Beca. It was something she wanted for a while anyway, ever since that first little grasshopper showed its face on her arm. Talking about Beca’s tattoos with her just made her finally go through with it. 

Finally she felt that warmth that she now constantly craved. She giggled when she saw the giant script on her arm. 

_ EMILY DID YOU GET A TATTOO? _

* * *

 

Beca waited nervously outside the dorm,  _ Emily’s  _ dorm. She had finally asked Emily to go on a date with her (only a few minutes before Chloe’s deadline, because god, Beca was a ball of anxiety). Her fingers traced the new tattoo on her arm. A bumblebee, right next to her own grasshopper. She smiled fondly when she remembered Emily’s explanation that her mom always used to affectionately call her honey, bug, and, of course, bumblebee. 

She grabbed the pen from her pocket (she started carrying one around, it was just easier). She started to write  _ I’m here  _ on her hand, but the door swung open. Emily rushed out to greet Beca, wrapping her arms around the smaller woman. Beca tensed for a second, but it quickly melted and she embraced Emily with equal strength. 

After they pulled back, they both looked over each other eagerly. Beca’s eyes fell on Emily’s exposed forearm, then to her own. 

Beca looked up at her soulmate and smirked. 

“At least we don’t have to worry about getting matching tattoos.” 

  
  



End file.
